The present invention relates to a film storage device for placing a number of films taken out of a cassette as stacked films in a magazine.
Heretofore, a film which has been exposed to an X-ray image and which has not yet been developed is placed in a cassette in a light-shielding condition, and the cassette is accommodated into a given device. After the film is taken out of the cassette and placed in a magazine, the empty cassette is removed from the above device. Such a device is widely employed in mammographic imaging systems.
The relationship between the device and a mammographic imaging system will be described below with reference to FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings.
Films a which are stacked in an envelope are placed in a magazine b in a bright room, and the magazine b is then accommodated in a loading device c. An empty flat cassette d is also accommodated in the loading device c. If films a' of a different size are also involved, the films a' are placed in a magazine b' in a bright room, and the magazine b' and an empty cassette d' are accommodated in another loading device c'. In the loading device c, an unexposed film a is transferred from the magazine b into the cassette d by a feed mechanism (not shown). Then, the cassette d which loads the film a in a light-shielding condition is taken out of the loading device c. Likewise, an exposed film a' is transferred from the magazine b' into the cassette d' which is taken out of the loading device c'. The films a, a' in the fat cassettes d, d' are used to photograph an object such as a woman's chest to check for a breast cancer, for example.
The cassettes d,d' (referred to as "cassettes f, f'), which place the exposed films a, a' therein, are then accommodated in a film removal device g associated with an automatic photographic processor. In the film removal device g, the films a, a' are taken out of the cassettes f, f'. The films a, a' are thereafter sent to the automatic photographic processor and developed into X-ray photographs. Alternately, the cassettes f, f' are placed in a film storage device h which is not associated with an automatic photographic processor. In the film storage device h, the films a, a' are stacked in magazines i, i' by film delivery mechanisms. Then, the magazines i, i' are accommodated in a film feed device j associated with an automatic photographic processor, and the films a, a' are taken out of the magazines i, i' and sent to the automatic photographic processor. The films a, a' are thereafter developed into X-ray photographs by the automatic photograpic processor.
When films are successively placed as stacked films into a magazine, the magazine is generally held horizontally. Therefore, a film delivery mechanism combined with the magazine is also required to deliver the films horizontally into the horizontal magazine. As a result, the film delivery mechanism has a large horizontal extent.
Attempts have been made to hold a magazine vertically and place films into the vertical magazine from an opening defined in an upper side of the magazine. Films which are to be placed in a magazine are of various sizes. When such a magazine is accommodated in an automatic photographic processor, it is extremely difficult to take films of smaller sizes out of the magazine from the upper opening thereof. In view of the difficulty of taking out smaller films, the magazine has a large film removal opening defined below the upper opening, and the film removal opening is usually closed by a shutter on the magazine. Consequently, the magazine itself is expensive, cannot easily handled as it is heavy, and is complex in structure.
In the film storage device h, it is necessary to transfer the films a, a' of different sizes from the cassettes f, f' to the magazines i, i' of corresponding sizes.
It has been customary to manually check the number of films stored in the magazines i, i' and also to manually match the types of the magazines i, i' in the film storage device h to the types of the cassettes f, f'.
The manual processes of checking the number of films and matching the cassette and magazine types are however quite tedious and laborious, and hence highly costly.